| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| erect |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | e·rect |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -r kt |
| ADJECTIVE: | 1. Being in a vertical, upright position: an erect lily stalk; an erect posture. 2. Being in a stiff, rigid physiological condition. 3. Archaic Wide-awake; alert. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: e·rect·ed, e·rect·ing, e·rects
1. To construct by assembling: erect a skyscraper. 2. To raise to a rigid or upright condition. 3. To fix in an upright position. 4. To set up; establish: erect a dynasty. 5. Mathematics To construct (a perpendicular, for example) from or on a given base. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin  rctus, past participle of rigere, to set up : -, ex-, ex- + regere, to guide; see reg- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | e·recta·ble —ADJECTIVE
e·rectly —ADVERB
e·rectness —NOUN
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
